


satisfaction feels like a distant memory

by dontmakemechoose



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, One Shot, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-07
Updated: 2019-03-07
Packaged: 2019-11-13 09:54:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18029486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dontmakemechoose/pseuds/dontmakemechoose
Summary: The story starts like most do.With a boy, a girl, and their best friend.It's supposed to be simple. Except it isn't.-------In which Harry and Hermione make all the wrong decisions





	satisfaction feels like a distant memory

The story starts like most do.  
  


With a boy, a girl, and their best friend.  
  


It's supposed to be simple. Except it isn't.  
  


Because two out of three are too occupiedtrying not to hurt anyone while the last one's too oblivious to notice how much pain he's causing.  
  


But that's fine because two out of three are used to bearing all sorts of pain after all.  
  


So on and on they go.

 

-

 

And slowly, like a coin settling at the bottom of a wishing well, the need for what should have been becomes stronger.  
  


"Run away with me." He says to her.  
  


Her breath catches, and she's reminded of a harsh winter night in an unforgiving forest. Her mind catapults back to the soft glow of bottled warmth and to his steady presence.  
  


_I wish we could just stay here, Harry. Grow old._  
  


She blinks the memory away and tries so very hard to keep from looking at him. From looking into those emerald eyes that have always been able to break through all her self-imposed shackles and pull her down into all sorts of madness.  
  


She wants to say yes, but her eyes drift to her hand. It's clasped in a different boy's hand. She takes a look at this sleeping boy's ginger hair and is reminded that more that two hearts would be broken if she agrees.  
  


"It's too late for that."  
  


And she misses the flicker of hope fade from his eyes as resignation slides back in its place.

 

-

 

She tells herself that the boy she's with has been acting this way for as long as she can remember, but someway somehow she snaps.  
  


So she calls him and says "Run away with me."  
  


She hears something that sounds like his jaw snapping shut and then nothing. The silence stretches out between them until finally.  
  


"It's too late for that."  
  


She hangs up. He doesn't call her back. And they leave everything else unsaid.

 

-

 

The next day she finds out why.  
  


"It's about bloody time." Her boyfriend says proudly when he spots the glittering ring on his little sister's left hand.  
  


Her eyes shoot upwards to his face. A smile affixes itself to her face to match the one on his. She wonders if the one he put on hurts just as much as hers does.  
  


And when her eyes finally meets his, he wonders if the same memory that is playing in his mind is playing in hers.  
  


_He knows that he should be watching the ceremony going on before them. But when the minister says "bonded for life" he can't help but glance over to her. It's supposed to be a quick peek but she turns and beams at him. They stay like that, vaguely aware of the excitement around them. And for once the weight lifts off their shoulders and they allow themselves to consider the possibilities._

 

_-_

 

She stands behind the bride. 'Always second place.' She thinks just as the irony hits her. Except, it wasn’t, at least not for that brief moment in time all those years ago.  
  


And when the minister says "bonded for life" his eyes dart to hers before falling back to his new bride's.  
  


As the newly wedded couple is presented she wishes that she had never helped to destroy those time-turners. She wishes she had been selfish because what does it matter if more than two hearts break as long as it isn't hers or his.

 

-

 

The story ends like most do.  
  


With a boy, a girl, their best friends  
  


And broken hearts all around.

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from "R U Mine" by Arctic Monkeys


End file.
